Launching a beta is tricky business for a developer. On one hand, you get to let eager fans not only play the game before launch, but give their feedback to making it even better. On the other hand, many people can be thrown off by the bugs, imbalance, or just not the game they were thinking it was. The last thing a developer would want is to drive away sales for their game. Thankfully, Crysis 3 doesn’t fall into the bad hand and while having some issues, proves itself as a suitable online experience.

I’ve been playing the Crysis 3 beta since it launched on both PlayStation 3 and PC and while the PlayStation 3 version is fine, it’s the PC version that blew me away visually. You see, Crysis 3 isn’t your typical shooter and jumping into it with that mindset will probably turn you off. Crysis makes you think on your feet, gets you planning your next move carefully, and the difference between life and death is dependent on how well you use your energy meter. For those who are unaware of the Crysis series, you wear a nanosuit that gives you different abilities such as cloak, armor and vision. You have access to all three in multiplayer and figuring out how to use which ability when increases your chances of survival. That’s one of the key things you learn after spending time in a few matches. At first, I really disliked Crysis 3 beta. The gunplay felt sloppy, people didn’t seem to die and I would be taken out so quickly I thought it was a bug. Turns out, figuring out when to use cloak, armor and nanovision is key to domination the battlefield. Believe me, once you get the hang of it, Crysis 3 becomes a really fun online shooter.

Crysis 3 Open Beta offered two different game modes along with two maps. Crashsite is king of the hill type mode where an alien ship flies around the map and drops down a node. Your team needs to stand around and capture it to generate points, while shutting the other team out. The team who reaches 200 points first, wins. I didn’t find myself playing this game type as much, due to the fact the other gamemode was a lot more fun (I’ll get to it later). In terms of the guns offered, you had your standard assault rifle, SMG, LMG and later unlocked a much better assault rifle, followed by the predator bow (A new for the series) and another LMG. Using the predator bow in Crysis 3 was a lot of fun, and nothing is more satisfying than being cloaked and shooting an arrow right through a guys head. The game also allows you to select three perks that range from reloading your gun faster, cloaking faster, having auto armor, and a few others. I found myself finding three that worked best for my playstyle and sticking with them throughout all my loadouts. While Crashsite was fun to play, the real draw to Crysis 3 beta was Hunter mode.

Hunter Mode is the most fun I’ve had in a multiplayer game in a long time. Here is how it works. The match starts with 2 hunters who have permanent cloak and are equipped with the predator bow. The 10 other players are C.E.L.L operatives and lack the nanosuit. Already you can see they are at quite the disadvantage. They have no cloak, no armor and are usually taken out with one arrow. The interesting part of Hunter mode is that once a Hunter takes out a C.E.L.L member they become a Hunter. The objective is simple. Hunters must eliminate all C.E.L.L operatives while the C.E.L.L operatives must survive for 2 minutes. You can imagine how communication plays a key role when you’re part of the C.E.L.L operatives. If you’re reading this and thinking “Well, I’ll find a great hiding spot where the Hunters won’t find me” you’ll be sad to hear that Hunters radar on all the time. This is one thing I wish changed, while I believe the Hunters should know if a C.E.L.L operative is sitting still in a corner, the ones moving around the map should be hidden on their map. At times, it felt very easy to eliminate all the operatives when playing as a Hunter, and a lot harder to survive as a operative. This game mode is by far the most fun and one I can see people really digging and coming back for me.

Visually, Crysis 3 is stunning, that is, if you’re playing it on PC. Now don’t get me wrong here, the PlayStation 3 version looked good, but once I jumped on PC and played it on Medium (My computer could run it on Ultra but optimal experience was about medium - high) at 60FPS it totally changed the game for me. Crysis 3 is a clear example of how lacking the current generation of consoles is. I enjoyed the game a lot more on the PC than PlayStation 3, but that was mainly due to the 60FPS over 30FPS on consoles.

As I stated, launching a beta is tricky for developers. It can either be a success and generate more sales, or take away from them. Crysis 3 Open Beta made a great impression of what Crytek is doing with the series and one Crysis fans should really be looking forward to. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the multiplayer as much as I did and I kept coming back for more nanosuit fun. Crysis 3 launches on February 19th on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

I’m going to start this with OMG DID YOU SEE THE DARK SOULS II TRAILER!? If for some strange reason you haven’t by now, you owe it to yourself to do so. Thankfully all you need to do is click below

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Now, I’m no stranger to the Souls series. Demon’s Souls is one of my favourite PlayStation 3 titles that has created memories to last a lifetime. Then there is Dark Souls, while not as good as Demon’s Souls, was still a great and fun experience. However, certain changes to the series from Demon’s Souls just made it feel less special as the first time you saw that red dragon in Demon’s Souls. That’s a whole other story to tell, this is all about what I’d like to see in Dark Souls II to make it the best in the series since Demon’s Souls.

Memorable/Important Characters:

Do you remember the first time you made your character in Demon’s Souls and entered the world of Balitaria? When you entered the Nexus and met with Blacksmith Ed, or the Dark Maiden? Those sort of moments felt lost in Dark Souls, the characters didn’t feel involved or important, but were there for either teaching you spells or laughing at your face because you couldn’t learn them. I don’t think there are any real memorable characters from Dark Souls that I remember like there was in Demon’s Souls. That’s the first thing I’d like to see with Dark Souls II, memorable and worthwhile characters. Characters that have something to do with the story, who have a life, a real presence. That’s not to say Demon’s Souls had them, but I felt like the blacksmiths, Dark Maiden, Patches, Ostrava, etc, had much more of an impression than the characters in Dark Souls. After saving certain characters you’d go back to the Nexus and talk with them and learn a little more about the world or their story.

Bring Back Nexus/Bonfire Mix:

I have no problem saying I think the Bonfire system is stupid, and maybe that’s not the right word, but I disliked it quite a bit. I’ve always told people that the next souls game should do one of two things. Either bring back the Nexus level select style system that Demon’s Souls had, or mix the two together. Picture this. You select a level such as the Boletarian Palace and within that level you have huge sub-levels that are connected by Bonfire checkpoints. Here you can level up if you need to and respawn if/when you’re slain in battle. This way, you’re creating these huge, vast environments and have a sense of direction where you’re going and what you need to do. One of the biggest problems I found with Dark Souls is that you’re just thrown into the world without any sense of direction. Many new players would end up dying quite fast because they went to an area they couldn’t handle. How many of you went to the graveyard at the start of the game, and got destroyed by skeletons? Before you say it, I know, that’s the difficulty of a souls game, but even Demon’s Souls, which I found was harder, had a sense of direction.

A Story to Care About:

There aren’t many people I know that play Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls who can give me a synopsis of the story. They might be able to give bits and pieces, but an overall synopsis is unlikely. That’s a shame because a dark fantasy RPG such as Dark Souls could really deliver an interesting and memorable story. It doesn’t have to be anything over the top or crazy, but something with emotion, to make you care for your character and for the world you are in. Judging from the trailer, this could be the case with the mysterious woman who gives you the feather. She could play a big role in your character’s development just as the feather might. Only time will tell what happens with the story.

Reasons to Be Alive:

If you’ve played Demon’s Souls, you’ll know that being undead wasn’t your best decision. Your health was reduced by 50% unless you use something like the Cling Ring. You were also unable to summon other players into your world, but could be summoned yourself. Being undead wasn’t your best case and more times than not, you’d want to be alive for the benefits. In Dark Souls, it took away a lot of what it meant to be undead. You didn’t lose any of your health and the only downside of staying undead is not being able to summon people to help you. Unless you were being the host of the world, there was no need to be human. You just stay undead, have no disadvantage and could still help others. The majority of the time I played Dark Souls I would stay in undead form and not risk the possibility of being invaded. Dark Souls II should bring back the way death was in Demon’s Souls and make being undead a disadvantage you wouldn’t want to have.

Improved Multiplayer:

Multiplayer plays a big role in the Souls games. Whether you’re playing co-op and trying to defeat that one boss who just feels like he can’t be beat, or fighting off annoying invaders who seem to invade at the worst times. Multiplayer is here to make the game even better. However, it can also be annoying, laggy and just a frustrating experience. When Dark Souls first launched, it was damn near impossible to find a summon sign from my friends. We would put it in hidden places so others don’t summon, but end up never being able to find it. This problem wasn’t present in Demon’s Souls, whether that was due to Atlus’s servers or just on the backend, it was a lot smoother. While it’s a lot easier to find them now and it seems to have been fixed, it still isn’t as smooth and easy as in Demon’s Souls. Then there is the lag. This is something I’m sure can be worked around but not 100% fixed, and that’s ok. It’s just quite annoying when you get invaded by a black phantom and you’re getting ready to attack him, when suddenly he is back stabbing you and you’re dead. Goodbye souls, hello frustration. It would be nice if they introduced some sort of invite system so playing with your friends is easier, while still keeping the possibility of being invaded.

Better and Improved Armor/Weapons:

I love getting new armor in games. Seeing my character progress from ripped and dirty clothes to a great looking plate armor set is a real thrill I get. The problem with Dark Souls is that it had so many armors and weapons that probably about 90-95% of them aren’t even worth getting. While it’s great to have a variety of different armors/weapons it’s pointless if the majority of them aren’t even worth using. Dark Souls II should shorten the amount of armors/weapons they have, while also making them harder to get and making it more worthwhile. You’ll notice I keep referring to Demon’s Souls due to the fact they did a lot of things right that seem to have been taken out of Dark Souls. I ran with the Knight’s default armor almost through the entire game until I found the Dark Silver armor. Even when you check the Demon’s Souls wiki, the number of armors that game had wasn’t many, but it was enough that getting new felt awesome. The argument could go that having so many different armor sets in Dark Souls allows for many different builds of character. But From Software can surely do the same while reducing the number of unwanted and useless ones.

Messaging Stone, What Gives?:

This one is going to be short and sweet because there isn't much to say. Who came up with the smart idea to make leaving message an item you have to equip and buy? What was wrong with simply pressing select and putting them down? I didn’t leave one message in Dark Souls, because of the fact I had to buy the ability to do so. Demon’s Souls, I had message scattered left and right. I’m hoping that From Software realizes that was a big mistake and brings it back to how it should have been all along.

That brings us to the conclusion of what I would like to see in Dark Souls II. Don’t get me wrong on this article, I’m not saying that Dark Souls was a bad game, because it wasn’t. I just feel as though a lot of things that made Demon’s Souls so awesome and memorable has been taken away. Dark Souls is a great entry in the Souls series and does a lot of stuff to improve the formula. If From Software takes what they did in right with Dark Souls and mixes it with the stuff Demon’s Souls did, it could easily make Dark Souls II and unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

I never thought I would enjoy a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) as much as I did with Guardians of Middle-Earth (GOME). Monolith Productions, who recently released Gotham City Impostors (and also worked on games like FEAR), were tasked with bringing over a genre to the consoles that, due to its complex controls, most thought could only work on PCs. They not only incorporated the Lord of the Rings universe with ease, but made the controls work wonders and possibly opened up the genre to work on consoles. It’s not without problems though, as at times the dumb A.I and lack of tutorial might make brand new players to the genre feel a little lost.

Let’s do a quick rundown on what a MOBA game is. Teams of 5 battle it out on a 3 or 1 lane battlefield to see who can destroy the main tower in each team's base. Each lane has 2 towers protecting it and players along with A.I. controlled minions must fight their way through said towers to reach the base and destroy the main one. First team to do that wins. MOBA games offer a lot of depth and strategy in their gameplay, and GOME is no exception.

The game offers you 22 guardians (more through upcoming DLC) ranging from Strikers, Enchanters, Defenders, Tacticians, and Warriors, who all play differently from one another. As a striker, you’ll be given the task of striking down enemy guardians with you high basic damage and abilities. As a defender, you’ll be protecting other ally guardians along with buffing your A.I. minions. Enchanters are there to do big damage with their abilities but low health and weak basic attack make them quite vulnerable. Warriors are a mix of defenders and strikers and can play both roles. You’ll also get to choose a loadout for your guardian, which is the games replacement for item shops that other MOBA games have.

Loadouts in GOME work as boosts to your character once you hit a certain level. The Guardian belt can be outfitted with relics and gems that can boost your health, basic damage, ability damage, penetration and much more. There is a real deep customization option here for players, and I can see skilled players spending hours making each loadout, but I found myself mostly using the default loadouts that were pre-made for each guardian.

The controls are where this game really shines. On a PC MOBA game you’ll be clicking away at the left mouse button to do your attacks and place your abilities. In GOME, everything is centered around the blue ring surrounding your character. This is your field of attack and anything caught in it, you can attack or do an ability. It works really well and helps you understand the distance you can be between your enemy before attacking. It really is amazing just how well and natural the controls feel. I never once felt confused on which button I needed to press for what needed to be done.

The moment you turn on the game you are treated to a tutorial. This is where one of the problems comes when playing GOME. While the tutorial given does teach you about the controls, how to use your abilities, potions, upgrading towers and units, it does it in a way that leaves you with more questions. For people who have never played a MOBA style game, to jump into a game after the tutorial is like walking on fire. You might know how to use your abilities, but the tactics behind it and the type of Guardian you choose, their strengths/weaknesses and basic tactics isn’t explained. The game offers a vast tips/helps written guide under the options menu, but it’s something that should have been taught to the player from initial boot up. There were many times when I saw players running straight into towers only to be greeted with death. Other times they would try to take out a guardian even though it was a 3 against 1 situation.

Another problems is that the A.I. can, at times, be so stupid they stand still and let you kill them. At other times, they will stop at nothing to kill you and leave you wondering just what happened. You’ll have the ability to set the difficulty of each individual bot, but your options are limited to either easy or hard.

It’s a real surprise just how well Monolith was able to make a MOBA style game work on consoles. Whether you’re talking about the controls, the gameplay or even the lore of Lord of the Rings, Monolith did something near impossible. But a lack of tutorial for brand new players to the genre and unreliable a.i can cause some frustration. Still, GOME is well worth the play if you’re looking for something unseen on consoles and if you’re up for a fun challenge. Guardians of Middle-earth has set a new standard for console MOBAs.

With the launch of of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 just a few days away, I thought it would be nice to give new players, and returning players some tips to improving their Call of Duty experience. I’m sure many of you wonder how people get such high kill/death ratios, or are able to get high killstreaks, and maintain staying on top of the scoreboard. It takes both skill and certain tactics that anyone can embrace to become a better Call of Duty player. These skills are universal between all Call of Duty games. I wish I could tell you there was some magical set-up that would help you, but the reality of it is that it’s a mixture of many different things. So, if you’re someone who wants to improve their overall game, listen up!

Sensitivity

First things first. Before you even jump into online multiplayer it’s a smart idea to go through the campaign. While it can be both enjoyable and fun to do the single-player portion of the game, it will let you figure out the perfect balance of aiming, tracing and cover. That’s one thing you need to figure out right away.

What is the perfect sensitivity for you to play on? What works for some, may not work for you. Do you like being able to aim fast and turn around even faster? Then a high sensitivity like 4-6 is for you. If you’re someone who needs an ultra fast aim; and it’s rare, than anything from 7-10 would work for you. Then, if you’re like me, you enjoy a slow sensitivity due to it’s ease of tracing (following the enemy while they are moving) and overall control of your weapon. For this type, you’re looking at a sensitivity between 1-3, I typically stay on 2. You’ll need to play around and find out what’s the best option for you. However, if you want to ignore the campaign altogether, but still figure out the best option for you, Black Ops II has combat training where you’ll face off against bots.

Loadouts

There is no perfect loadout. You’ll hear me say this time and time again, what works for some may not work for you. Just because your friend can dominate the game with an ACR 6.8 or AK-47 Silenced, doesn’t mean you will be doing the same. Certain people will tell you that one gun is better than another, but it all comes down to personal taste (some of “crappy” weapons in Black Ops are some of my favorite) and what feel right for you.

How do you figure that out? How do you know what perks to run with what gun? The answer is experiment. If you don’t try out different things, you’ll never find out what works best for you and there are multiple options this time around to fine tune and create the perfect class. Treyarch’s Pick 10 is changing how create-a-class works and will let you create classes you’ve only dreamed about. One thing to note, not all gun types are right for every situation.

Since the majority of the kills you’ll earn will be through shooting your gun, which one should you take as you primary? This depends on many different variables; map size, gametype, and the one and only, personal choice. Assault rifles dominate the majority of Call of Duty mainly because they are versatile and can be used in many situations. Typically they have high damage, low fire rate and moderate accuracy. Sub-Machineguns are typically for smaller maps and do low damage but have high fire rate, and high accuracy. Then you have shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols and special weapons (crossbow/balistic knife) which I cannot give too much advice on, as I rarely use them.

Then there are perks. Talking about loadouts is difficult because they are so personal. The beauty of Call of Duty is that there is a counter for anything and everything in the game. If someone is using sentry guns or the Guardian, there is a perk/equipment that will counter it. Take for example explosives, C4, Semtex, etc can be countered with the Flak Jacket perk. If there were three perks I would recommend to a new player it would be the following.

Take it with a grain of salt, because it doesn’t mean you’ll be better, but these perks will certainly help you stay alive longer and possible get the edge over your enemy. I honestly cannot stress enough how personal and experiential your loadout is. You have to play around with the weapons and perks to find out what works for you. Once you’re in the game, however, there are certain things you can do to improve your game.

Knowing The Map

This doesn’t happen overnight, nor can you magically learn the ins and outs of the maps in Black Ops II. There are a lot of times where you see people totally lost and confused when they hope into a match. They don’t know where the combat happens, where people are expecting you, and the pace of the match. Being able to get an edge over your opponent is one of the best ways to dominate in any Call of Duty game. What can you do to know the map? Treyarch has some options for you that will really help you out.

Combat Training or Private Match are perfectly places to start. Here you can load up any map and be totally alone. You’ll be able to run around the entire map, figure out places to hide, get the edge on your opponent, and find the best routes to take. Once you feel familiar with a map, you should add bots and have yourself a match. Make sure that the bots are set to a fairly high difficulty so they will feel more like real players. Once you’ve figured that all out and feel more confident about the maps, its time to focus on your HUD.

HUD (Heads up Display)

You would be surprised at how much detail your HUD can display about the battlefield. From the enemy location to your ammo count, it’s all vital to your survive and ability to do better. One of the main problems that I see people having is that they don’t look at the radar. The top left corner of your screen has a lot of information that you should pay attention to. Every once in awhile, you need to look at it and figure out what’s going on in the general area. If an enemy is shooting without a silencer, he’ll show up as a red dot. This doesn’t mean you should rush right at him, but be aware that he’s there and probably has backup. The other important thing to note about the radar is when your teammates die. A skull will appear on your screen indication he’s passed, which can mean one of two things. The enemy is in the general area and you should be cautious, or the enemy team has a sniper and going into an open area could mean death. I’ve yelled multiple times at my screen because it seems that some people are completely blind when it comes to this stuff.

Battlefield Tactics

Now that I’ve gone over some basic tips, it’s time to discuss improving your game. These won’t secure yourself in staying alive longer, having a better k/d, or getting those high killstreaks, but it should help you slowly achieve all that. Many people believe that taking the enemy head on is the way to go, but those people don’t tend to stay alive very long. The real trick to staying alive is maintaining a zone. No matter which game mode you’re playing, each map has zones that you can control. Forget about people yelling “CAMPER!” or calling you “cheap” because maintaining a zone of the map is nothing to what a camper does.

A zone can consist of anything from part of a building, a street, and it really depends on the map layout. Since we are talking about Black Ops II, I’ll give you a great example from the original Black Ops. On the map Firing Range, I like to take control of the left side where the B bomb is planted in Search and Destroy. Here, you’ll have to worry about three areas, but having them on lockdown means you’ll be able to get the jump on the enemy. However, what if someone has the same plan as you? You need to play it smart and move slowly around each corner bringing up your iron sights and being ready. If you have stuns, feel free to throw one and figure out if you get someone.

The real advantage many people have is knowing where the enemy is going to be, before they do. People have certain patterns and tend to follow them no matter what’s happening. If you can be one step ahead of your enemy, you’ll be a better Call of Duty player. I can’t tell you how to do that because it depends on the other player. It’s also a smart idea to move with one teammate, this way if anything starts happening to you that you aren’t expecting, you have a chance that your teammate will react in time and save your ass.

Maintaining a zone of the map is the key to making sure you alive and getting those high killstreaks. This goes for any game mode, Search, Domination, Team Deathmatch, you name it. The only difference is that you have to aware of where the enemy spawns and which sides are currently left open. That’s another thing that will help your game a lot, learning the spawns.

Spawns

Spawning in Call of Duty can be easily figured out after playing each map a few times. The only question is, which game mode you’re playing. If you’re playing Search and Destroy, then the spawns never change. In a game where there are respawns (Domination, Team Deathmatch) typically the enemy will spawn far away from you, unless you start rushing into that area, in which case the game will switch them to keep them from being massacred. In Domination spawns are based on which flags are capped, so you need to keep an eye out on that.

Recap

So you’ve been wanting to improve the way you play Call of Duty multiplayer. You’ve wanted to be a better player and try to be on top of the scoreboard. Hopefully, these tips will help you improve your game in the long run. Here’s what you need to take from all this.

You need to figure out the best sensitivity for you before even jumping online. At that point, you need to play around with the guns and see which one feels right, along with the perks that accompany that weapon. At which point, you need to learn the basic layout of the maps. If you go blindly, without a doubt you’ll be taken out quicker than you can spawn. You also have to remember that regardless of what might work for someone, it might not work for you. It doesn’t hurt to try recommended loadouts, and if you find one that works, more power to you. Just don’t expect because someone can get a 18 killstreak with a ACR that you will be able too. You also need to keep an eye out on your radar and icons that are showing up on your screen. Many times people tend to ignore these and it costs them their lives.

With the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II just a few days away, I’m hoping these tips will make your game slightly better if not much improved from before. Don’t be discouraged if you still aren’t doing that great, practice makes perfect and no one started off dominating in any game. If you have any questions or tips of your own, feel free to post them below. To everyone else, I’ll see you on the battlefield November 13th.

LAST TIP - Headsets

I left this at the end because not everyone can afford a good gaming headset, nor does it mean you will be better in anyway. You might have heard of “sound whoring” before and that’s when you use your headset to hear certain sounds in the game better than you would if you’re listening from your TV. The main thing you’re listening for is footsteps, judging from how loud they are and which direction they are coming from, you can figure it out by listening closely.

The reason why I didn’t put this higher up is due to the fact it doesn’t always end up working the way you plan it to. For some people, wearing a headset works wonders and they can easily get the upper hand on others. For others, it just lets them hear the game through the headset and doesn’t change much. It’s a personal choice but if you can afford one then by all means get one.

Every year around November, a new Call of Duty game is set to launch. With each addition to the series comes excitement, anticipation and hatred. Many complain that the game has mainly stayed the same. The campaign is lackluster and boring, while the multiplayer portion only adds minor new features . However, this year feels different and feels like the year that the Call of Duty community is about to face a massive (and much needed) change similar to one when Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare launched. Which means you should be very, very excited

For those who are unaware, the Call of Duty franchise switches developers every year. After the launch of Modern Warfare 3 by Infinity Ward, it’s now Treyarch’s turn to bat and swing for the home run. They have tons of tricks up their sleeves that just might make this the greatest Call of Duty to date. Whether you’re talking about their new take on the campaign, or the complete 360 turn on multiplayer, or even what they are doing with Zombies, Treyarch seems to be headed in all the right directions.

I honestly don’t remember the last time I was excited to play a Call of Duty campaign. The main problem I had with the campaign is that they felt so much on rails, have no real substance, and it didn’t feel like your actions really mattered. While there is an overarching story, it typically falls short and the game is just a none stop pointless shooter.

When Treyarch launched the first trailer to their campaign I was blown away at the level of detail to both the overall story, along with the much improved animation. Characters felt more real, the conflict as big as any hollywood blockbuster and the way the campaign works, interesting and quite different.

Black Ops 2 has a split campaign, the majority of the campaign is spent in the year 2025 where “the enemies have the keys to our weapons”, robotics, and tech. The other half is set during 1980’s and 70’s Cold war. The whole idea of the story really makes you wonder the “What if” possibility of this happening. The other exciting part of the campaign is the antagonist, Raul Menendez. It’s hard to talk too much about the campaign due to the fact there isn’t much details, but for the first time, in a long time, the Call of Duty campaign seems interesting, fun and different.

While you might still be doing the standard, pop out of cover, shoot and repeat, Treyarch is also adding branching storylines in the form of Strike Force missions and choices to your single-player story. Would you rather assist your teammates with sniper cover? or, would you rather go frontline and center into the action? These small, but effective choices break from what you’ve been use to and add a new level of depth. The question remains how much does it effect your story and how much does it really make a difference? It really depends on how Strike Force is handled.

If there is one thing that Black Ops II campaign should get you excited about, it’s the Strike Force missions. These are not only completely new and different to the series, but if it’s advertised like Treyarch has been, it will make Black Ops II very unique.

In Strike Force missions you face permanent death. There is no due over, there is no reset, it’s do or die. Players will have the ability to not only control the standard soldier but everything and anything in the environment. You want to control that drone? Go ahead. Want to control the Mech style robot? All yours. Each mission will have ramifications on your campaign, such as messing up Raul Menendez plans or changing the outcome of the new Cold War. These are the missions where the story can be molded into your own and unique experience. My ending to Black Ops II might not be the one you get.

The excitement doesn’t stop there! If the new way Treyarch is creating the campaign isn’t exciting for you, then the brand new and improved multiplayer might be. One of the main complaints that players have had is that Call of Duty multiplayer is largely the same between all the games. You add some new weapons, different killstreak, perks and maps. You pick a gamemode, create your class and do what you do best, kill. Treyarch is looking to change all that and create an experience as new as when you first loaded up Modern Warfare. The biggest change that you will notice is that Create-a-Class has been totally redone. Everything you know about it, forget it. Typically, you would pick a primary weapon, secondary, 3 perks, tactical grenade, etc. It was a slot based system that didn’t give you much room to be unique. This time around, Treyarch is introducing what they call Pick 10.

With Pick 10 you’ll have 10 points to spend how you see fit in your custom create-a-class. Want to ditch your secondary for an extra tactical grenade? Maybe you don’t want to run any guns and would rather have 6 perks? This is now all possible and creates endless possibilities to what people will come up with. There are of course some restrictions and what Treyarch cards “Wildcards”. it’s the way you’ll be able to pick 6 perks instead of just 3, or put 3 attachments on your gun instead of 2. I could go on and on about the new Pick 10 because there is simply so much change. Expect to see some crazy create-a-class styles that you’ve never seen before but only dreamed were possible. If this new Pick 10 system doesn’t get you excited either (and how can it not?), then you must have forgotten that Zombies are making a return in a much bigger and badder way!

What started off as a bonus for beating World at War campaign, has now become a staple of the series. Just like previous Treyarch titles, Black Ops II will be bringing Zombies back with not only the classic survival you’re all familiar with, but will also feature its own campaign, theater mode and grief gametype. You heard that right, this time around Zombies will has its own separate campaign titled Tranzit. Players will go through a series of places defending against zombies and for the first time, creating unique weapons and defenses. There hasn’t been much news regarding the mode, but it certainly is a great addition to not only the single-player but multiplayer portions of the game.

Then there is the brand new grief mode which Treyarch describes as a 4z4. Players won’t be able to kill each other with gun or knifes, but will somehow (hasn’t been explained) be able to “grief” other players and make the zombies work in their favor. How that will done, and how fun it will be is as good a guess as any. However, it’s another addition that makes the game feature packed and overflowing.

I’ve never been a fan of zombies after World at War. It just seemed tacked on and just an extra for people who enjoy it. This time around? I cannot wait to jump into Zombies and see how different or the same it really feels.

There is tons to be excited about when it comes to Black Ops II. From it’s new take on campaign, to its interesting and unique twist to multiplayer, or even their staple zombies mode. There is going to be something for everyone who plays the game, whether it’s your first Call of Duty, or you’re a veteran. People shouldn’t be so quick to say the game is going to be horrible due to the fact it’s a Call of Duty title. Treyarch seems to be hitting all the right buttons that have made people dislike the franchise. Only time will tell if this will be a giant success or another flop. In anyway, Call of Duty: Black Ops II could be the greatest Call of Duty game to date.